Benjamin Franklin and His Gods

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Against the religious backdrop of pre- and post-colonial America stands the towering figure of Benjamin Franklin. A Renaissance man in a revolutionary time, Franklin had interests and knowledge not only in religion but also in literature, philosophy, politics, publishing, history, and scientific inquiry.Benjamin Franklin and His Gods in the first extended treatment in thirty years of Franklin's religious thought. Bringing the same intellectual range and depth to the understanding of Franklin's beliefs that Franklin brought to his own quest, Kerry Walters cuts across the disciplines of American studies, religion, and philosophy to challenge the standard interpretation of Franklin's religious thought. Walters argues that Franklin's writings reflect a "theistic perspectivism" that accounts for his advocacy of tolerance, his apparently contradictory appraisals of divine providence, and the liberty of conscience he championed throughout his life. This balanced and broad-based assessment of a central figure in America's cultural history reveals for the first time the intellectual breadth and sophistication of Franklin's religious thought.